Quincy city council grudgingly adopts new flood map

On Monday, the city council reluctantly voted to adopt the controversial map proposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, that will add 1,400 Quincy properties to the flood plain and raise risk rates for about 2,700 properties already in the plain. Homes and businesses in the plain are required to buy flood insurance if they have federally-backed mortgages.

This is in response to an unfixed broken elevator at the 14-story Pagnano Towers in Quincy Point, home to more than 150 elderly residents.

City Solicitor James Timmins and Planning Director Dennis Harrington both raised doubts about whether the city can provide funding for housing authority properties owned by the state and federal government.

QUINCY – With great reluctance, the city council has adopted a new flood map that will raise flood insurance costs for thousands of Quincy property owners starting next week.

The council Monday voted 9-0 to adopt the map proposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which will add 1,400 Quincy properties to the flood plain and raise risk rates for about 2,700 properties already in the plain. Homes and businesses in the plain are required to buy flood insurance if they have federally backed mortgages.

Although the councilors said they adamantly oppose the map, which goes into effect next Monday, the city’s engineering consultant, Woodard & Curran, said rejecting the map would have devastating consequences, including city residents not being eligible for publicly subsidized flood insurance. Also, the firm said the city and its residents would no longer qualify for FEMA reimbursements after a disaster or grant funding for flood-relief projects.

“I have had to make a lot of choices in my life, I don’t know if there’s any one that I can think of that meets the definition of a Hobson’s choice more than this one,” said Ward 3 Councilor Kevin Coughlin, whose home is among those added to the flood plain.

The phrase “Hobson’s choice” refers to having a free choice in which there’s real no choice at all.

Joseph Shea, senior vice president at Woodard & Curran and son of City Clerk Joseph Shea, said the city will fight the map through what’s called a letter of map revision, which challenges the map almost citywide. Shea said the revision request will be filed with FEMA next Tuesday, and it typically takes about six months for the agency to respond with a decision.

In the meantime, Shea is advising property owners who think they may be affected by the new map to request an elevation certificate through the city’s engineering office at 55 Sea St. Based on the certificate, Shea said the city will recommend whether the owner should seek an individual appeal with FEMA, called a letter of map amendment, which typically get a response within two months.

Shea said the city will pay for the certificates, which require a land survey, for individual properties. He said the certificates cost, on average, about $400 per property.

After the council adopted the map, Ward 1 Councilor Margaret Laforest, who represents many of Quincy’s coastal neighborhoods, proposed a resolution urging FEMA to delay implementation of Quincy’s map based on its flawed science. The resolution was supported by all nine councilors.

The city’s congressional delegation has also asked FEMA to delay Quincy’s map.

For the second time in recent months, at-large Councilor Doug Gutro blasted Mayor Thomas Koch for his decision not to fight Quincy’s new map last spring, when the city had a 90-day window to file an appeal. Plymouth County’s maps were delayed a year after towns like Marshfield filed appeals.

Page 2 of 2 - Gutro said Koch failed the city’s taxpayers. “We shouldn’t be here tonight. This vote should not have to happen, and it infuriates me,” Gutro said.

Christopher Walker, Koch’s spokesman, could not be reached for comment late Monday night. Koch has said that, in hindsight, he would have protested the map sooner given the public outcry in recent months.